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VIENTIANE, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith Thursday called for legislators to support the efforts to improve liquidity and rebalance the budget.
"Over the past years, although national economic development saw strong growth, in reality a number of difficulties have been faced because the foundation for production in our country is not yet strong and budget spending exceeds accumulated income," Lao News Agency KPL reported Prime Minister Thongloun as telling legislators during the ongoing second ordinary session of the legislature in the capital Vientiane.
On the revenue side, the prime minister said continued efforts were necessary to diversify away from a revenue base with overdependence on receipts from natural resource commodity production prone to price volatility in global export markets.
On the spending side, the allocation and management of resources for development purposes as being too often "ineffective, done in a rushed manner, or without deep consideration, good planning, and monitoring," the Lao prime minister said.
The prime minister also highlighted violations of laws and financial rules resulting in budget leaks, with some officials have been found guilty of being irresponsible or for the more serious charge of committing corruption.
Reports of the State Audit Office to the National Assembly last Friday revealed 2.4 trillion kip (295 million U.S. dollars) was found to have been lost due to tax exemptions, tax discounts, and exemptions and discounts on special levies on the import and export of fuel, vehicles and timber.
The prime minister responded to the revelations with commitments to increase efforts to monitor and inspect the performance and probity of government authorities in exercise of their duties, especially those involved with customs and tax affairs.
Meanwhile, Thongloun said the nation was in the midst of efforts to deal with liquidity challenges in the short and middle terms, focusing on improving mechanisms for revenue collection and putting in place stimulant measures to ensure relevant targets are met.
He also pledged the administration's commitment to address the country's debt and bond problems, reform state commercial banks, and improve budget implementation and expenditure mechanisms in an effective manner combat extravagance while renewing efforts to reduce unnecessary restraints impacting upon the business environment in the developing country.
Thongloun called for renewed efforts toward catalyzing an economic growth rate for the coming year of at least 7 percent to improve the economic situation and "win the trust" of the country's multi-ethnic people as well as investors and entrepreneurs. Enditem
